Since having four solo shows and five group shows in the past five years, I have decided I needed to take a break! An artist can’t just stop painting…that won’t happen with me, but I felt there was a call-back to what I used to do.

Portraiture and figurative (narrative) works were my first love and seemed to come naturally to me. It had been over 10 years since I did the last figurative painting and I felt a need to rediscover doing them. I decided last Spring that it would be in my best interests to connect with a mentor who was really good in this area to work with me. I contacted an artist friend of mine who runs an art school locally and we made arrangements to meet once a week for the next year. I have been doing a lot of studies under his guidance. It felt good to draw again, first with graphite and charcoal, then moved into drawing with paint. In the Fall last year I finally began to paint the portraits in full color.

I can honestly say that it isn’t easy. There is a lot to consider and I was grateful for my many years in art school to have done lots and lots of figurative work. I remembered anatomy and the structure of the human form…this came back to me quite quickly. However, I had not done anything at that time with oil paint as I was only working with water media.

My skill painting the portrait and figure is coming along. I’m not where I want to be with them yet but that is part of the process; persevering, working at the same subject matter, learning new ways to explore this genre, and to continue to get down into the nitty gritty of it all – all of these matter. And there can be a lot of frustration. So while I still continue to work at landscape painting for the galleries that carry that work from me, I need to fill my own cup with what moves ALL of me. This painting is called “Proud Woman” – 18in x 14in, oil on Belgian Linen panel. Salut!

Okay, dead of winter..cold, white or grey….I need some color (other than in my hair!). One of the galleries that represents my work decided to have a ‘Small Works, GREAT WONDERS’ show of miniature paintings from selected artists within the gallery. I usually do landscapes for this gallery, however, for this show I decided to go with something different. I love spheres and small things that look like spheres; that could be tiny boxes that are circular in shape, small colored balls out of those machines in some shops where you pay 25 cents and out drops one of them, and then there’s marbles. I love marbles! When I was a child the marble games were popular just around this time of year when the snow started to melt. It’s rather nostalgic but I decided to take a few photos of marbles in different lighting and with props and choose a couple of those images to make as my contribution of mini paintings to the gallery. This one is called ‘Freedom’s Calling’….(escaping from the jar!) and is 5 inches x 7 inches, painted in oil on gesso-board. The style is ‘hyper-realism,’ very similar to photorealism. I enjoyed the process of painting them, a departure from my usual realist/impressionistic style. I hope you find this little painting brings you back to your childhood days and gives you a chuckle. Cheers!